


Shienaran Bathing

by pretchatta



Category: Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan
Genre: Bathing/Washing, Book 2: The Great Hunt, Daydreaming, F/M, Fantasizing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:01:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26934766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pretchatta/pseuds/pretchatta
Summary: The only benefit to the Shienaran bathing style, Nynaeve thinks to herself, is the excuse it gives her to daydream.
Relationships: Nynaeve al'Meara/Lan Mandragoran
Comments: 3
Kudos: 15





	Shienaran Bathing

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this when I was first reading The Great Hunt and realised that Lan and Nynaeve weren't going to happen any time soon, so to keep myself going I created an... addition to Chapter 8.

The only benefit to the Shienaran bathing style, Nynaeve thinks to herself, is the excuse it gives her to daydream.

_Nynaeve sat in the empty bathing room, working the braid out of her hair. She wasn’t rushing, exactly, but neither was she taking her time; while it was early enough for the baths to be empty, they wouldn’t be for long._

_Rand’s idea of going so early in the morning that no-one would be about was a good one, but she didn’t want to run into him for either of their sakes, and so she had taken to waiting until just after he left to go in herself. Though she had the same reaction to the Shienaran’s mixed bathing attitudes as the boys, she thought herself much better at hiding her embarrassment of it, and so had escaped much of the teasing the Shienaran women subjected Rand and the others to._

_So engrossed was she in ensuring her hair was thoroughly clean and knot-free that she didn’t notice she had company until he slid into the water, sending ripples to where she sat. That’s what she told herself - it had nothing to do with how quietly he always moved._

_“Nynaeve.” Lan spoke at the same time that she realised she was not alone, and she was so caught by surprise that she couldn’t even find the words to scold him for invading her privacy. She instead hunched down where she sat so that the water came up to her neck, and crossed her arms protectively around her chest. “I wanted to speak to you alone. You always seem to be in the women’s apartments, or in company.”_

_She swallowed. “Well,” she began, finding her voice. “You’ve certainly found me alone.”_

_“I’m sorry. I could think of no other way.”_

_“I hate to disappoint you after all your efforts,” she said scathingly, “but I have nothing more to say to you. We said all we need to say long ago, you and I. I shamed myself - which I will not do again - and you told me to go away.”_

_“And that’s what I wanted to talk about.” His icy blue eyes held her gaze with such an intensity that she felt unable to look away. “I was wrong, Nynaeve. I should never have pushed you away. I have regretted my words since the moment they left my mouth.”_

_The world seemed to go still at his words; not a ripple moved in the silent bathing room, and Nynaeve realised even she was holding her breath. Was he really saying what she had so hoped to hear him say?_

_Lan moved slowly through the waist-high water until he could sit beside her, an arm’s length away. The ripples broke the stillness and allowed her to breathe again._

_“I’m sorry,_ mashiara _. Do you - is there any way we can start that conversation again? I promise it will end differently this time.” He reached out to gently brush her cheek with his fingers. His touch left a burning trail along her skin, counteracted by the chill the water gave._

_She tried to swallow again, but found her mouth dry. “I suppose…” She was acutely aware that they were both naked, and alone in the bathing room, but it was not an awareness of propriety. “If that is truly how you feel, and my feelings have not changed, then… There is no need to revisit that particular conversation.”_

_His eyes burned with a bright blue fire. “So we are done talking.” He moved again until he knelt in front of her, the water just below his shoulders, and cupped her face with a damp hand. “I hope you will not mind if I move on to what follows.”_

_She could say nothing as he leaned in, slowly, to press his lips against her. The kiss was slow, and sweet, and long, and it released the emotions she had been holding in for so long like a dam bursting inside of her. He broke the kiss to pause for breath, but her mouth found his again, deepening the kiss hungrily as her hands found his arms and ran over his chest._

_His touches in return were gentle, but they penetrated into her very being like fire burning through her. He caressed her sides, her hips, her breasts, all the while kissing her senseless. She moved her hands to his head, her fingers tangling in his long hair, pulling him closer. When she felt him brushing along her inner thigh she gasped into his mouth, desire coursing through her body._

_In return she dropped her own hand to his thigh, dragging her fingers upwards and along his hard length, and it was his turn to moan softly. His arms encircled her and pulled her close, pressed up against him so that she could feel every inch of his naked body. His erection dug into her hip and his thigh was between her legs-_

“Nynaeve?” Egwene was looking at her as though this was not the first time she had called the Wisdom’s name.

Nynaeve shook herself to clear the last of the fantasy from her mind. “I’m sorry, Egwene. I was lost in thought.”

The girl gave her a look that seemed to understand entirely too much.


End file.
